Sons of Anarchy’s Kim Coates Warns Viewers About A Violent, Fast-Paced Season Six

FX hit Sons of Anarchy returns tonight at 10/9c, and fans are revving their engines to see how the show’s beloved motorcycle club will fare after the significant fracture that occurred in season five’s nail-biting finale. To get some insight into where the hyper-intense “biker soap opera” is headed over the next few months, VH1 caught up with actor Kim Coates before he made his way to the SOA set last week.

At Comic Con in July, Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter (who plays incarcerated SAMCRO member Otto Delaney and also writes, executive produces, and has directed episodes in the series) made it clear that the gruesome show would ultimately end in a “pool of blood” when it concludes in season seven. Despite being a full year away from crossing that threshold, Kim Coates, who brings the show’s ever-loyal Tig Trager to life, can already sense the death that’s looming.

“This season is so violent. It’s gut-wrenching,” Coates revealed on Friday in 107-degree heat from California. It was 6:30 in the morning for the Canada native, but he was cheerful and enthusiastic about beginning what will be the second chunk of five and a half months of shooting Sons. That particular day’s task? Episode nine.

“I’m starting to reflect more because the end is coming,” Coates confessed of season six. “Maybe I’m getting a little melancholy because I think we’ll all be dead by next year… I really do. I don’t think there’s gonna be anyone alive.”

Activity on set has been moving forward quickly for the actor and lifelong motorcyclist this season, both in terms of the shooting-schedule speed and the many Sons of Anarchy story lines. As of late, Coates has been finding himself frustrated with maestro Sutter – married to the show’s powerhouse den-mother, Katey Sagal aka Gemma Teller – for not tying-up enough loose ends in the series’ convoluted sub-plots.

Coates’ Tig Trager is a twisted-but-playful character with deep-rooted issues and compartmentalized trauma resulting from his illegal exploits with SAMCRO — the last of which came to fruition in season five’s finale when he killed the man who burned his daughter alive in front of him. Yeah. But is Coates’ recent disdain for Sutter emerging because he’s too close to the fictional world of Charming, or will viewers, too, feel the story rushing by too quickly on screen? We’ll have to see. “I have no idea if the fans will question the gaps [in the season],” Coates told me, “but I’m missing some things this year, personally.”

With Tig and Jax (Charlie Hunnam) covering up Pope’s death, Clay and Tara in jail, Nero back in action, and Bobby tearing off his VP patch, there is a lot that can go wrong for the show’s main characters out of the gate. But will we see someone get killed in the premiere tonight, so early on?

According to Coates, we should expect the worst. “The greatest thing about Tig is literally his loyalty to the club, and [initially], his loyalty to Clay. But that’s all changed now. Everything’s f—ed up now.”

Sons of Anarchy’s 6th Season Premieres Tonight on FX at 10/9c. Come back tomorrow to hear more from Kim Coates on Sons, future projects, and what it’s like working with Charlie Hunnam now that he’s been cast for 50 Shades of Grey.